Editorials

Joe Aragon Jr. and his son Joe Aragon III are justified in their frustration with the city’s solid waste transfer station. It’s unnecessarily messy, with trash blowing all over the place on a regular basis. So when they complain to city officials that they regularly have to pick up the city’s trash on their neighboring property, it’s believable. And when they say it’s not just a transfer station, that it’s a dump and a junkyard to boot, no one can really argue with them.

RIGHT DIRECTION. As staunch believers in openness in government, we applaud the efforts of the Community Committee for Better School to have a say in the selection of a new superintendent in the East district. Also commendable is the reaction of school board President Gabe Lucero, who says he’s open to the committee’s participation. He even extends the invitation to current candidates, which totals nine on the East-side ballot.

So far we just don’t see the Big Bad Boogiewoman that some feared would come out of Susana Martinez once elected. So far, we can only applaud the moves she’s made.

First thing, shortly after midnight on Jan. 1, she signed executive orders that opened up state government, by prohibiting state departments and boards from hiring lobbyists, directing agencies to cooperate with any federal investigation and limiting the administration’s use of executive privilege to deny public records requests.

Ahhh, the ebbs and flows of party politics. Two years ago, when the Democrat Barack Obama was sworn in as president, he faced a tremendous federal deficit due to the excesses of his Republican predecessor. And now, with Republican Susana Martinez as New Mexico’s governor, she enters office on the heels of a Democrat who spent the state’s tax dollars as if there were no sign of a rainy-day tomorrow. Obama and Martinez, it seems, have something in common — they’ve inherited a fiscal mess.

NO EASY ANSWERS. The year’s big story is, really, an old story, but with a new twist. An industry says it must impose certain standards on the community to succeed, and residents cry foul, saying the industry’s demands will have a negative impact on the their quality of life. The twist is, this time it’s a “clean” industry, seeking to convert wind into electricity, and residents are wanting more distance between their homes and the huge turbines that Invenergy wants to put on top of the Bernal Mesa.

The Las Vegas Optic didn’t seek out LeeEtte Quintana for the latest episode of East’s superintendent saga. She sought us out, and we must admit to being mildly surprised that she would choose us as a way to criticize the school board for passing her over as interim superintendent.

LET’S HOPE HE’S RIGHT. West Las Vegas Superintendent Ruben Cordova took a popular position recently, saying that he didn’t want to close any of the schools on the west side. Here’s hoping that he can pull it off.

We don’t care whether the administrator of the state hospital is a Democrat or Republican. Frankly, we don’t want that official to cozy up to any governor or elected official.

Rather, the administrator should focus on the job at hand.

Troy Jones, the hospital’s chief for the last two and a half years, hasn’t been a political guy, thankfully. Not long before he took the reins, the administrator’s position was made exempt — in other words, an appointee of the governor.

The Las Vegas City Council was right to reverse its decision on a proposed subdivision in the 2300 block of New Mexico Avenue.

During a public hearing last year, some neighbors testified that they thought the subdivision would consist of low-income homes attracting a criminal element. Afterward, the council voted 3-2 to reject the proposal by local developer Phil Warfield. One member voting against the development said he feared an increase in traffic; the other two didn’t give reasons for their vote.